Date: 1744

"A mere existence or being is an indifferent thing, ('tis a Rasa Tabula) that may be coloured over with sin or holiness: and accordingly it receives its value from these; as a picture is esteemed not from the materials upon which it is drawn, but from the draught itself."

— South, Robert (1634-1716)

Date: 1744

"Nor dreadful our transition; though the mind, / An artist at creating self-alarms, / Rich in expedients for inquietude, / Is prone to paint it dreadful."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1744

"Death, and his image rising in the brain, / Bear faint resemblance; never are alike: / Fear shakes the pencil; Fancy loves excess; / Dark Ignorance is lavish of her shades: And these the formidable picture draw."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1744

"Our senses, as our reason, are Divine. / But for the magic organ's powerful charm, / Earth were a rude, uncolour'd chaos still. / Objects are but the' occasion: ours the' exploit; / Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint, / Which Nature's admirable picture draws, / And beautifies Creation'...

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"These flattering scenes / To this neglected labour court my song; / Yet not unconscious what a doubtful task / To paint the finest features of the mind, / And to most subtile and mysterious things / Give colour, strength, and motion."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Let the scene / Paint in thy fancy the primæval seat / Of man."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"For as old Memnon's image, long renown'd / By fabling Nilus, to the quivering touch / Of Titan's ray, with each repulsive string / Consenting, sounded through the warbling air / Unbidden strains; even so did nature's hand / To certain species of external things, / Attune the finer organs of the ...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"O wherefore, with a rash impetuous aim, / Seek ye those flowery joys with which the hand / Of lavish fancy paints each flattering scene / Where beauty seems to dwell, nor once inquire / Where is the sanction of eternal truth, / Or where the seal of undeceitful good, / To save your search from fo...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1745

"And, in my Opinion, we have as much need of the Hand of Culture to call forth our latent Powers, to direct their Exercise; in fine, to shape and polish us into Men, as the unformed Block has of the Craver or Statuary's Skill, to draw it out of that rude State, into the Form and Proportions of a ...

— Fordyce, David (bap. 1711, d. 1751)

Date: 1746

"While there with thee the enchanted round I walk, / The regulated wild, gay Fancy then / Will tread in thought the groves of attic land; / Will from thy standard taste refine her own, / Correct her pencil to the purest truth / Of Nature, or, the unimpassion'd shades / Forsaking, raise it to the ...

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)